This is Pearl Jam in full on geezer rock mode complete with aged, uninspired riffs, cynical political lyrics, and an overall inescapable apathy within a once rocking exterior and sensitive interior.

Helped to begin to heal what was then an open wound from 9/11 ("I Am Mine" in particular). Though not always uplifting, it really reflected what was going on at the time. And it still holds up (as do all of Pearl Jams albums). "Can't Keep" gets better with every listen.

Awesome album from start to finish.

Somewhere over the years Pearl Jam fans seem to have lost interest in the band. They haven't yet to make a horrible album, but with the saturation of copycat bands like Creed, Nickleback and Live, they seem to have been lost in the crowd.

"Can't Keep" is a groovin' rocker with a big sound and Middle Eastern overtones. Then the album has "Save You", which is simply Pearl Jam's most rocking, energetic and exciting song in a while, along with the other Big Rock tunes on the album like "Got Right" and "Ghost". "1/2 Full" has an amazing, smoking guitar solo that you can't help but to rock out to.

Vedder has some songs that take a stab at President Bush in the lyrics like in "Help Help" with "the more you read, we've been deceived, every day it becomes clearer". Vedder has always been known for his out-right political lyrics and this album contains it's fair share of them. The band has stayed true to each other and their beliefs over the years.

Right, so in the mid-to-late 90's Pearl Jam sucked out loud (then again, so did everyone but that little band British band you may have heard of, Radiohead or whatever their name is, they've made a couple nice albums. That band whose name involves squishing orange gourds used for Halloween is pretty good, too). So what? Riot Act is their comeback album, you know? After years of being bad, this is them finally finding themselves again and rocking out. No stupid experimentation, very few stupid ballads, just a lotta rock. The kind of stuff they should've been doing in the mid-'90s in the first place if they weren't so focused on weird stuff like "Hummus". But hey, "Cropduster", "Ghost", "Get Right" and "Save You" are simply classic Pearl Jam rockers that make the mid-'90s stew worth suffering through. Plus there's an anti-Bush song!! That's right, "Bushleaguer" is a hilarious rockin' protest against our fearless leader. Of course, I'd praise any anti-Bush song, especially if it's as good as this one, and especially if it has a line as funny as "The haves have not a clue"! I don't think it's as good as the single "I Am Mine", though, which has what just may be the best guitar playing in Pearl Jam history. I do have a few gripes to make. Yes, this is little more than a very good copy of Ten: being a classic rock revivalist band at heart, Pearl Jam never was too original. And there are a couple of low points, sadly: "Help, Help" has an awful harmony vocal that ruins the song for me; there are also a couple folk-rockers: while one ("Can't Keep") is quite good, the others ("Thumbing My Way"; "All Or None") are quite bad. And "1/2 Full" sounds like a crappy Hendrix song (There are a few of those, you know! A mere five or six, but they still exist). I give it an 8 though, because the good stuff is really good! In fact, I think this is my second favorite Pearl Jam album, behind only Dix.

this cd failed to live up to earlier Pearl Jam standards. I Am Mine was the only thing listenable.